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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Pilot spots theft at own house while flying plane

Gary Robert Haines / Charlotte County Sheriff's Office

A Glades County man flying back home from North Carolina caught a man in the act of stealing a trailer while flying over his home near LaBelle Sunday, later following the suspect and calling authorities from the air.

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office arrested Gary Haines, 59, of Virginia after a traffic stop on Interstate 75 by the Lee County Sheriff's Office.Deputies say the trailer's owner, David Zehntner, was flying over his home in the 2400 block of Loblolly Bay Road when he saw a silver truck in his driveway. He lowered his altitude to get a closer look and observed a man, later identified as Haines, looking into the windows of his home and then attached his red trailer and pull out of his driveway.

Zehntner followed the truck down State Road 80 toward I-75 in Lee County and called the Glades County Sheriff's Office from the air. Glades deputies contacted the Lee County Sheriff's Office which located the truck as it headed into Charlotte County.Deputies stopped the truck on mile marker 153 in Charlotte and detained Haines until Charlotte County deputies arrived to make the arrest.Haines' pickup was impounded; inside, deputies found a loaded rifle and bullets on the floorboard. He was arrested for grand theft and taken to the Charlotte County Jail.Haines was released this morning on $2,500 bond.

Glades County Sheriff’s Office detectives continue their investigation into the theft and weapons found in the Haines pickup.